This bio comes from imdb.
Birth Name: David Matthew Macfadyen
Birthdate: 17 Ocotober 1974, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England, UK
Height: 6’3″ (1.91 m)
Matthew Macfadyen may have been born in Norfolk, but as the son of an oil worker he spent at least part of his childhood in Indonesia before finishing his education back in England and winning a place at RADA in 1992.
He won critical acclaim in the UK with his work with the stage company Cheek By Jowl in the 1990s and was well established as a stage actor when he made his first TV appearance in Wuthering Heights (1998) (TV). A couple more TV roles followed but it was his role as Tom Quinn, head of Section D, in the hit BBC series _”Spooks” (2004)_ that really made his name at home. And, indeed, established his home – he met his wife, Keeley Hawes, while working on the show.
A steady stream of TV and film work followed, with his performance as Mr Darcy in Pride and Prejudice (2005) firmly establishing his name worldwide.
Great pictures! P&P is the only thing I have seen Matthew Macfadyen in but he did make a good Darcy & worked well with Kiera Knightley as Elizabeth, Colin Firth is still my favorite Darcy though.
I love Colin Firth, and he was an excellent Mr. Darcy; however, I was a Macfadyen fan long before he played the role. (Actually, that was true for Firth, as well…at least, for me.) I first saw Macfadyen playing Hareton in a made for TV version of “Wuthering Heights.” I have followed his successes every since: Little Dorrit, The Way We Live Now, Spooks (aka MI-5), Warriors, In My Father’s Den, Frost/Nixon, Incendiary, Middletown, Robin Hood, The Three Musketeers, Death at a Funeral, Pillars of the Earth, Any Human Heart, etc., etc.
I really liked him in Wuthering Heights!
When Matthew smiles, I am mesmerized. At the end of the film, he smiles when his character and that of Katharine are teasing in the garden. From that moment forward, I was hooked.